


Degrees Of Separation

by zugzwangxo



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 17:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5424851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zugzwangxo/pseuds/zugzwangxo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer arrives home to a distraught wife, on hearing her news he promises to do everything in his power to help. Are the couple ready for this life changing event?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a three part mini fic that fulfilled a request I received on my blog.
> 
> I have used (Y/N) for the purposes of a reader insert.

Spencer hated coming home this late, especially on a school night. He knew that the idea of daddy coming home would be too exciting for the kids to pass up and it usually meant a lot of rushing around for (Y/N) the next morning. No matter how many times she said he was so sweet that she didn’t mind, it still weighed on his mind.

But something was different this time. The lights were out in the kid’s bedroom and all but the gentle glow of the small lamp in the living room illuminated his way as he walked up the garden path. Six years of marriage with a five and a four year old had given him certain instincts, which he’d admired in the rest of his team before he’d gained them, and these instincts told him that something in the household was wrong.

Climbing the steps, he withdrew his keys from his faithful old satchel, tucking his hair behind his ear before picking out the key and sliding it into the lock. A quick flick and push had the door swinging open, as it had in his old apartment, which he’d never gotten out of the habit of. So much so that he’d insisted this lock be the same.

Once inside, the warmth was the first thing he’d noticed. Late November was upon them and the cold air was setting in, meaning that either (Y/N) had the fire going in the living room or the central heating had been on for some time. As he dropped his keys into the bowl on the side table, he looked along the corridor to the light emanating from the gaps of the door to the living room as it shined onto the hardwood flooring. By now, he’d normally be inundated with tackling hugs and laughter as the kids rushed him at the door but this time it was different. Something was definitely wrong.

Pausing, his hand hovered tentatively at the handle of the living room door, almost scared of what he might find. With the advantage of partner and parent’s intuition came the constant worry that he’d come home to the absolute worst, having witnessed the worst happen to so many people, including his colleagues. Eventually, he twisted the handle and pushed open the door and he was met by the familiar sight of his living room. The book cases covered the blind wall opposite the fireplace and there was ample space to sit and read away from the main focus of every American home. The main seating surrounded a short glass coffee table, facing the large television which hung on the wall. Sat on the larger sofa was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, even if she never believed it when he said it, but his fear had been confirmed.

She’d been crying for some time, he could tell by how red and puffy her eyes had become and the small pile of tissues that had slowly spread across the coffee table, around a large envelope. As he approached (Y/N) looked up to him, sobbing one last time before he sat beside her, wrapping her up in his protection.

“What’s wrong?” He said, looking down at the envelope. She hadn’t cried like this since her mother had passed in the summer, leaving her to deal with the family estate.

“The… the last of the will has been… sent out.” She spoke between sobs “There was a set of… instructions to… leave these papers… the lawyers brought them… by today.” (Y/N) gestured down to the coffee table, urging him to read.

With a hand left on her shoulder, Spencer turned and leaned down, pulling the contents of the envelope out to read.

“Adoption papers?” He questioned “I… I had no idea.” (Y/N) nodded then leaned against his shoulder.

“Keep reading.” She said before sobbing into the fabric of his cardigan. Spencer’s eyes flicked down the page, as they always did while he was taking in mass amounts of information in a second.

“Wait, this is only one half, it says it’s the…” it dawned on him what he’d just read. “Re-nationalisation papers for an adopted child.” He turned over the first page so he could read the second piece of paper that had been in there. It was half in English and half in Russian. “This says, your birth parents were from… well, the document is registered in Novosibirsk, Siberia.”

(Y/N) nodded and pulled away from him for a moment, taking the document from him and glancing down it.

“My parents used to go there a lot on envoys till the Soviet Union fell apart.” Her father had been a diplomatic envoy during the later years of the cold war, travelling back and forth between Washington and major Russian cities. “They used to tell me stories of things they saw there…” She looked up from the page. “Do… do you think they found me? They took me in for a better life?”

“It’s possible. I mean you said your mom couldn’t have children after you, maybe your parents couldn’t have children at all, and when the opportunity came… Maybe you were a saviour to them just as much as they were to you.” He tried to make as much light of what she’d found. “This isn’t something that you should hold against them…”

“No, no, I don’t hold it against them, it’s just…” She sniffed, trying to clear her airways to breath. “I had no idea.” She looked away from him again, looking up and down the page. “I… I mean, people used to tell me how much I looked like my mom… And she’d smile as if it were true.” Spencer chuckled lightly.

“Well, I’ve seen pictures, you actually do look like her in ways, but then it’s not wildly uncommon for people to have near doppelganger likeness without ever being directly related.” Spencer pulled her close, leaning back and making her cuddle into him. She placed the paper down, freeing her hand to press against his chest. “Just because they weren’t your biological parents, that doesn’t mean they weren’t your mom and dad. They loved you and raised you to be a wonderful mom yourself.”

The corners of her mouth curled up in rebellion of her emotions as she got more comfortable, leaning on him and playing with the buttons of his cardigan.

“So, what do I do?” She asked.

“That’s completely up to you. What do you want to do?”

“I feel like… I feel like I owe it to myself to find out more. You know?” She looked up to him, resting her chin on his chest. “Like… imagine not knowing where you’re actually from? I should know things like, who brought me into this world and what kind of life they had when I was born. I might owe my parents more than I ever imagined.” Spencer nodded.

“I can appreciate that. The only difficulty there is that the relations between Russia and the US aren’t all that great still, so getting that kind of information might be difficult, even for some of my colleagues.” She looked away from him, deep in thought, listening to his heart beating as she rested her ear against his breast.

“What if we went out there? I’m sure that if we went there with these papers we’d be able to find something out.” She looked back to him with a sweet smile “And, well, my Russian isn’t quite as good as yours…” Spencer chuckled at her fishing complement but it was true, she would need him if she was really going to do this.

“Fine, I’ll let Hotch know I need to take some personal time tomorrow…” He started to stroke her hair. “I always said I’d like to practice with more native speakers.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was cold. Unbelievably cold. So cold that even inside the airport terminal you could see people’s breath in the air. Aside from the writing on the walls, signs and adverts, they could have been anywhere else as people hurried around in an attempt to reach their destinations, just like home, just like any other airport in the developed world. Noise was everywhere as announcements came over speakers and crowds chattered in various dialects of Russian, all of which seemed alien to (Y/N) but to Spencer this was a goldmine of knowledge and experience in speaking this foreign language. He took every opportunity to speak to locals or staff, beaming with excitement when they were unable to tell he was a foreigner. On top of that, he’d spent the whole journey researching the city and its people.

“Did you know that the city of Novosibirsk is the second furthest major city from any ocean?” He asked as they stepped out of the terminal into the open air, which seemed to burn at the skin it was so cold. Taxi cabs lined the pickup points which had been cleared of snow, just like the roads and runways. Everywhere else seemed to be coated with a soft white blanket as the winter reclaimed the land.

“I didn’t know that.” (Y/N) replied, smiling as they stopped beside a cab. 

She found his love of these facts and statistics fascinating, and she’d often said that her plan was to one day have him be her partner on a gameshow to win lots of money, which meant she’d never complain. Spencer leaned into the window of the cab, speaking a few words which (Y/N) couldn’t understand but the driver responded, opening his door and helping place their luggage into the trunk.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to find what we need. Over a million and a half people live here and there are around thirty five orphanages, and that’s just within the city limits.” Spencer added as he opened the door for her, giving her time to get comfortable before shutting the door and moving around the back to the opposite seat. “We’ll get settled at the hotel then I’ll pay a visit to the city hall records office.”

“How are you going to gain access to the records? Won’t they question what an American agent is doing looking into those files?” She asked as he closed the door.

“Probably but I have a plan.” He said with a smile.

“And that is?”

“I’m going to tell them that I’m working to reunite a Russian national with her family… so the truth.” (Y/N) just blinked at him for a moment, thinking about it. It was as good an idea as any and since he had brought his credentials then they’d think here was here officially. He turned to the driver, who was waiting for a destination. “K Marriot otelya, pozhaluysta.” With that, the driver nodded and pulled out into the slow but steady flow of traffic.

~

Spencer had chosen a global hotel chain to stay at while in the city, in an attempt to ease (Y/N) into the culture of their trip rather than surround her with extreme reminders of just how far they’d come. The obvious language barrier for her was inevitable but then there would have been nothing Spencer could do about that. Sitting on the bed in the hotel room, she felt useless as she flicked through channels on the television without knowing what was going on in any of the shows.

She wished that Spencer had let her come with him to help but in the end she knew he’d work faster without her. After several minutes of channel hoping she gave up and wandered into the bathroom, which was brilliant white and spotless. The brown marble which made up the surround for the sink and counter glistened in the illumination of the spotlights as she walked past them towards the glass enclosed shower cubicle. Leaning inside, she turned the dial to start the cascade of water from the shower head which came out hot from the start.

(Y/N)’s entire body ached from the long flight, having barely slept through nerves and anxiety, and all she could think of was the heat soothing her skin as she slowly slipped off her clothes, folding them up and leaving them on the side of the counter. The moment she stepped into the cubicle she could feel the warmth of the water as the clouds of water vapour met her before she even reached into the stream. Closing her eyes, she stepped under the waterfall, letting the water rush over her, soaking into her hair and running down her body. The heat radiated deep into her muscles, finally letting them unknot and settle as she pushed her hair back with her hands.

That was when it all hit her. She’d come to this strange place, with it’s strange people and it’s strange cultures with no idea what she’d find, even though she knew that this was once her home. In truth, she had no idea who she actually was and it was sinking in that her entire life had in fact been a lie. 

Who was (Y/N)? Who was she really?

She leaned back against the wall of the shower, feeling the bite of the cold ceramic against her hot flesh, but showed no sign of feeling it. A tear rolled down her cheek, hiding itself among the water droplets that had run from in her hair. Did she even want to know?

~

An hour passed, followed by another and then another. Once she’d gotten out of the shower (Y/N) had succumbed to the exhaustion of her journey, climbing into bed and drifting away to sleep as she waited for news from Spencer.

When the door finally opened, Spencer crept into the room and closed the door once more as silently as he could. As he approached the bed he smiled, looking down at all of the features of her that he’d fallen in love with so many times over. As is in anyone’s nature, the mere presence of him in her light sleep caused her to stir and open one eye.

“Spencer….” She said groggily as she began to lift herself to see him properly. He moved to sit in the space that had once been occupied by her legs under the sheets. In his hand was a file, which immediately caught her attention. “You… you found something.”

Spencer looked at the file then back to his wife, nodding slowly before speaking.

“I did but… this is the point of no return.” He looked at her with some concern. “Do you really want to know what I’ve learned?” (Y/N) paused, taking in his tone and trying to work out why it was somewhat solemn but he wasn’t giving anything away. 

Finally she nodded, pulling the duvet up to cover any part of her that had escaped into the cool air of the room. Spencer opened the file, his eyes skimming the page till he hit the relevant information.

“Maria and Edward (Y/L/N) came to Novosibirsk in 1989, while your father visited officials from the Kremlin. In that time they were shown an orphanage near the centre of the city. Two young girls had arrived a week before hand, one was 9, the other was an eight month old baby. The note left with them explained that their parents were no longer able to provide for them and that they would be better off in the hands of the state. They did not give details of who they were or where they were from, nor could the 9 year old.” Spencer looked up at (Y/N), who was staring at the file, unable to read it but listening intently. 

“The girl’s name was Nina, but she could not give a surname. Maria and Edward returned before the end of their trip, asking to adopt both children, however the state would not allow it, only the adoption of the 8 month old was able to go ahead. The documentation was completed within hours and the baby was granted US nationalisation via the embassy in Moscow.”

“What happened to the girl…. What happened to my sister?” (Y/N) spoke without looking up from the file.

“I… are you sure you want to know this?” Spencer pleaded but his wife took no notice and after a few moments of awkward silence he continued. “Nina remained at the orphanage till her 18th birthday, after which she was considered a legal adult and would then be unable to stay. I found a few police reports with her name in them with reports of drug use and other minor felonies… and then this…” he pulled out a document but it was all in Russian.

“What is it?” (Y/N) asked.

“It’s a birth certificate. Dated a year ago. Nina had a little girl named Anastasia but…” He placed the document back into the file and looked away out of the window. His wife finally looked up at him, dreading the words that might come from him.

“But?” she asked abruptly, causing Spencer to sigh and look back to her.

“Nina…. She died in childbirth. With the father unknown, the child was taken into the care of the state and has been looked after by an orphanage on the edge of the city ever since.”

There was a long silence as Spencer leaned toward his wife, placing a hand on her knee beneath the duvet. (Y/N) couldn’t believe what she’d heard. She hadn’t known what to expect but this was more than she’d ever have imagined dealing with. What if she’d been there with her sister? What if she’d never been adopted? Would there have been something she could have done if she’d known sooner? All of the questions screamed through her mind at a thousand miles per hour and eventually she broke down into tears, leaning into Spencer who could only hold her and let her come to terms with it all.

“What do you want to do?” He asked after a few minutes, after she’d calmed enough to even hear him. 

(Y/N) tried to pull herself together, looking into his eyes but it was all too much to even think about. Without a backward glance, she slipped from the bed and walked away from Spencer as if trying to gain some distance from the issue itself, but it wasn’t enough. Stepping through the bathroom door, she locked herself away, shutting him out along with the rest of the world.


	3. Chapter 3

“I… I have to ask you something. I have to ask you to do something for me…. Something that I have to do.” She said, finally emerging from the bathroom. Her head hung low, apologetically. 

“You have been so amazing to me. You’ve been so amazing to our children, even though you come home at stupid times of the night, you’re always there for them.” Spencer smiled at the compliments as she walked over to him at the edge of the bed.

“They’re the greatest gift I could ever ask for.” He said warmly, which only made her more certain of what she had to do.

“I… I want us to take her with us. She should be with her family. At home.” Spencer turned fully toward her, crossing his legs to sit facing her. She was asking him to take on another child, a child that wasn’t his but still a child that was as much his family as it was hers.

“You’re right.” He said after a few long moments. “She has family and she should be looked after in a loving home.” He leaned forward, kissing her cheek then smiling. 

“We’ll go in the morning, but for now… I’m exhausted.”

He looked it. He’d had just as bad a flight as she, except he’d not had a chance to rest upon arrival. After helping him out of his clothes, (Y/N) pulled back the sheets and welcomed him into bed, pulling him close so he could share in her warmth.

“Thank you, Spencer. I love you.” She said as they settled in each other’s arms.

“I love you too.”

~

The next day somehow felt even colder than the previous, causing everything to freeze, roads, pavements, everything. The only saving grace was that the dull concrete buildings held most of the North winds at bay, otherwise the temperature would have dropped even further. The orphanage looked like an old hospital that had been converted and had very few large windows. Upon entering the main reception, the temperature rose considerably but (Y/N) clung to her fur lined coat all the same. She left all of the talking to Spencer, who had very quickly become accustomed to speaking in the local dialect, which in turn caused some confusion when his credentials were shown to the staff.

After a few words short sentences back and forth, the lady at the front desk led the couple through a set of doors that had required a key to open. A long, dauntingly drab corridor brought them to an offices, where a small group of women were working at desks. The lady led them to the furthest desk and to an older, stern looking woman in what looked like a nurse’s uniform, who looked confused when the receptionist spoke.

“Why would American agent ask about child?” Said the woman in a heavy Russian accent, addressing Spencer directly but (Y/N) stepped forward.

“Please, I know this sounds ludicrous but… I once lived here, as a very small child. I was adopted by an American family but… my sister stayed here.” She pleaded. As she spoke, the woman looked more and more confused until the mention of the adoption. The moment the words left (Y/N)’s lips, her expression changed as she began to remember something.

“You… you are Nina’s sister?” She asked with concern. “You have proof?” 

(Y/N) wasn’t expecting that and looked to Spencer with panic in her eyes.

“Er… yes, I have it.” He said, snapping into gear after a moment’s lull, pulling the file from under his arm and producing the adoption document and (Y/N)’s passport.

The lady took both documents, looking over them both with care, checking names and dates before looking up and smiling.

“This does not happen often.” She started. “Most children who come here, they grow up here or they are adopted by people who cannot have children… this…” She paused, lost for words at the sheer likelihood. 

“In state law, you are only known relative and therefore have right to become legal guardian over the child. I…” She looked around her desk for a moment before pulling open a drawer and producing a form. “Usually there are many checks for a family to adopt, however, since you are in fact able to be legal guardian…” 

The woman leaned to speak to one of her colleagues, exchanging a few short sentences of which all (Y/N) understood was ‘Anastasia’. The colleague hurried off, leaving the woman to turn back to Spencer and (Y/N). 

“If you plan on taking Anastasia home with you, you must speak with embassy in Moscow. They will be able to send me details for nationalisation and passport… I am sorry, I have only ever done this once before.” She smiled to (Y/N).

“Wait… you were here when…”

“Yes, child. Your parents wished to take Nina too but… state wouldn’t allow it. They were very upset. They didn’t want to break you apart but the lady, she’d fallen in love with you.” The lady looked up at her returning colleague. “Ah… (Y/N), I would like you to meet your erm… sorry, I do not know word… plemyannitsa?”

Both Spencer and (Y/N) turned to see the younger woman returning with the baby in her arms. (Y/N) froze completely, as if she were seeing it all in slow motion. Two weeks ago, she’d discovered that Spencer and her children were the only family she truly knew and that she might never know her real parentage, but this child would have grown up never knowing her real family either.

The young woman allowed (Y/N) to take hold of Anastasia while Spencer and the older woman spoke more about the process but she wasn’t listening, the precious life in her hands was too much of a distraction. Her eyes were big and bright, looking around with utter curiosity of these new people, but at the same time they were familiar, the same eyes as (Y/N)’s. She’d already grown a full head of mousey brown hair, which flayed out at the edges when she smiled she showed the hand full of teeth that had poked through already. Her tiny little hands grabbed at the material of (Y/N)’s clothes as she held on to this new woman till her attention drifted elsewhere.

This was real. This child was all that remained of her side of the family. And now she’d be coming home to love and happiness and a life that she should have had, that all children should have. (Y/N) leaned forward, kissing her soft, smooth cheek with a broad smile before looking to Spencer to mouth “Thank you.”


End file.
